“Beca’s core strength lies in the depth of knowledge within the company, and our team approach to delivering good quality work.”
Having served his Beca ‘apprenticeship’ as a graduate engineer in 1987, Stephen headed overseas to develop his skills working on big projects, before returning as a Senior Transport Engineer in 1994. Since then he has been a key player in the growth of Beca’s Transportation team.
Now a Technical Director, his extensive experience in traffic engineering sees him heavily in demand. He leads teams, provides expert evidence in hearings or acts as advisor on most of the large transportation projects for Beca, including the Manukau Harbour Crossing, Victoria Park Tunnel, Newmarket Viaduct, and other work for the NZ Transport Agency.
Stephen is actively pursuing Beca’s growth in the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) side of the business, using new technology to help reduce congestion and improve the efficiency of road networks. Examples of this include the use of on-ramp signalling on Auckland’s motorways, which has helped reduce the number of accidents and improve journey time reliability caused by the stop/start traffic flow effects, and the introduction of real-time estimated journey times to alert drivers to possible delays in reaching their destination.
Stephen enjoys many aspects of his job, from the challenge of solving problems and the diversity of clients and projects to mentoring the younger members of his team. He is proud of what Beca offers to graduates. “Beca gives our young engineers much greater opportunities and challenges than most ever expect on graduating, especially on the technology side. Our size and therefore the type of complex projects we work on means they can grow their skills quickly, with a high level of support and try things out. We won’t hold them back, but will give them more and more challenging things to do as their skills develop.”